Australia's snowboard halfpipe team has capped off an unbelievable 48 hours at the World Championships in La Molina, Spain, by adding another two World Championship titles.
Victories by Australian Institute of Sport/NSW Institute of Sport scholarship holders Holly Crawford and Nathan Johnstone in the men's and women's halfpipe finals follow Alex "Chumpy" Pullin's historic gold in the snowboard cross, leaving Australia on top of the medal tally at the FIS Snowboard World Championships.
For 26-year-old Crawford and 20-year-old Johnstone, both from NSW's Perisher resort, the World titles are their career-best achievements.
Crawford not only had to battle against her competition, she also had to contend with a severe bout of food poisoning that left her extremely lethargic going into the final.
But not even food poisoning could prevent Crawford from getting caught up in the excitement of the biggest victory of her career.
"I am overjoyed and extremely happy," Crawford said.
"The important thing today was staying calm. A number of the other girls looked like they were pushing it a little too hard. I remained relaxed and did the basics as well as possible, which is what we have been focusing on in practice."
Johnstone said that he used the prospect of winning the World Championships as a goal to spur himself on during his eight-month recovery period after breaking his ankle and missing the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games.
"Winning today means a lot," Johnstone said. "I've been training really hard this season and targeted this event to do well. I'm stoked."
Johnstone is not going to rest on his laurels and has set himself the goal of winning the 2010/2011World Cup tour.
Halfpipe head coach Ben Alexander said that the cornerstone of Crawford's and Johnstone's titles are linked to keeping the "fun" element in training.
"Obviously hard work is important but we have been concentrating on making sure they continue to enjoy their snowboarding," Alexander said.
"It's important to keep it simple and keep going big. Today they had good amplitude and great execution."
Crawford set up the World Championship title by grabbing the lead in her first run with a stunning performance overcoming a howling wind that caused havoc for most of the other athletes.
She finished on 26.7 points, 3.3 points ahead of Swiss rider Ursina Haller with China's defending World Champion Jiayu Liu making up the other podium place with 22.5 points.
Johnstone also won his title with his first run and, like his teammate, handled the conditions better than the other 11 finalists finishing on 26.8 points, 0.6 ahead of Switzerland's Iouri Podladtchikov. Fin Markus Malin was in third place, a further 2.5 points behind the Australian.
Crawford, a veteran of nine years on Australia's national team and 11 World Cup podiums, now adds a gold medal to the silver she won in the 2009 World Championships in Gangwon, Korea.
Crawford and Johnstone will not have long to savor their wins - they head to Aspen, Colorado, in the United States, to compete in the X-Games within two days.
Victories by Australian Institute of Sport/NSW Institute of Sport scholarship holders Holly Crawford and Nathan Johnstone in the men's and women's halfpipe finals follow Alex "Chumpy" Pullin's historic gold in the snowboard cross, leaving Australia on top of the medal tally at the FIS Snowboard World Championships.
For 26-year-old Crawford and 20-year-old Johnstone, both from NSW's Perisher resort, the World titles are their career-best achievements.
Crawford not only had to battle against her competition, she also had to contend with a severe bout of food poisoning that left her extremely lethargic going into the final.
But not even food poisoning could prevent Crawford from getting caught up in the excitement of the biggest victory of her career.
"I am overjoyed and extremely happy," Crawford said.
"The important thing today was staying calm. A number of the other girls looked like they were pushing it a little too hard. I remained relaxed and did the basics as well as possible, which is what we have been focusing on in practice."
Johnstone said that he used the prospect of winning the World Championships as a goal to spur himself on during his eight-month recovery period after breaking his ankle and missing the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games.
"Winning today means a lot," Johnstone said. "I've been training really hard this season and targeted this event to do well. I'm stoked."
Johnstone is not going to rest on his laurels and has set himself the goal of winning the 2010/2011World Cup tour.
Halfpipe head coach Ben Alexander said that the cornerstone of Crawford's and Johnstone's titles are linked to keeping the "fun" element in training.
"Obviously hard work is important but we have been concentrating on making sure they continue to enjoy their snowboarding," Alexander said.
"It's important to keep it simple and keep going big. Today they had good amplitude and great execution."
Crawford set up the World Championship title by grabbing the lead in her first run with a stunning performance overcoming a howling wind that caused havoc for most of the other athletes.
She finished on 26.7 points, 3.3 points ahead of Swiss rider Ursina Haller with China's defending World Champion Jiayu Liu making up the other podium place with 22.5 points.
Johnstone also won his title with his first run and, like his teammate, handled the conditions better than the other 11 finalists finishing on 26.8 points, 0.6 ahead of Switzerland's Iouri Podladtchikov. Fin Markus Malin was in third place, a further 2.5 points behind the Australian.
Crawford, a veteran of nine years on Australia's national team and 11 World Cup podiums, now adds a gold medal to the silver she won in the 2009 World Championships in Gangwon, Korea.
Crawford and Johnstone will not have long to savor their wins - they head to Aspen, Colorado, in the United States, to compete in the X-Games within two days.
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